Follow Us

Deep End of the Pool

What do you do when you're thrown into a situation you’re not prepared for? And while you’re flailing around—what happens to the people who depend on you? This week we present stories of people who find themselves in over their heads, including an attorney who knows little about criminal law assigned to defend a young man facing twenty years in prison.

By

A lawyer with almost no experience in criminal law is assigned to a criminal case with a sentence of 20 years to life. This happened because, in Louisiana, like in a few states, public defenders’ offices are so short-staffed that courts are ordering private attorneys to take pro bono clients. Reporter David Zax tells the story. (29 minutes)

By

Sometimes an entire government has to dive into the deep end of the pool and do something it’s never done before. One of our producers Karen Duffin has the story of the US government doing just that… in a high stakes sink or swim situation. Against a foe seeking global domination. Karen wrote a blog post elaborating on this story. (19 minutes)

Related

This American Life producer Alex Blumberg investigates a little-studied phenomenon: Children who get a mistaken idea in their heads about how something works or what something means, and then don't figure out until well into adulthood that they were wrong.